THE North Shore Stars won the Softball B.C. Peewee provincial championships played at London Park in Richmond last month, clinching the title with a convincing 8-1 victory over Victoria's Strawberry Vale.
The Stars, part of the North Shore Girls Fastpitch Association, won gold for the second year in a row, becoming the first North Shore fastpitch team to accomplish that feat.
The Stars were ranked fifth heading into the July 1517 tournament but knocked off the No. 2-ranked Surrey Storm 7-3 and No. 4-ranked Port Coquitlam Ravens 5-4 to advance to the playoffs.
In the semifinals the Stars took out No. 1-ranked Vancouver Wildcats 4-3 in extra innings with Mollie Townsend smashing the gamewinning hit in the bottom of the eighth inning.
In rugby, North Vancouver's Nathan Yanagiya was one of 12 players recently named to the roster of the Canadian National Under18 Men's Sevens rugby team that will compete in the Youth Commonwealth Games Sept. 7-13 on the Isle of Man.
The team is charting new waters for Rugby Canada in sevens play, a fast-paced version of 15-a-side rugby that recently became a full-fledged Olympic event.
"Entering a Canadian agegrade sevens team into an international tournament has never happened before," said head coach Shane Thompson in a release. "It will be a great opportunity to see how our age-grade players perform and measure up against international competition." Yanagiya and his teammates were picked following a series of trials and an international under-18 sevens tournament held in Victoria in July featuring teams from Ontario, B.C., the Prairies, Utah and U.S.A. All-Americans national side.
Yanagiya, a Carson Graham student, is one of three players who gained international experience this February competing for Team B.C. at the Las Vegas Invitational Sevens tournament.
Canada will be competing in Pool A at the Youth Commonwealth Games against Australia, Scotland and the Isle of Man. Pool B will be made up of South Africa, England, Sri Lanka and Trinidad and Tobago.
